Utterly charming. I loved this one!

Duncan and his single mom are spending the summer at his mom’s new boyfriend’s beach house with him and his daughter.

The boyfriend, played by Steve Carell, is Trent and he’s a bully and a womanizer and a master manipulator. He’s the worst kind of abuser because he cloaks his verbal and emotional manipulation as “help.”

Duncan drifts to the local water park and strikes up a friendship with the manager. He soon leads a secret life as an employee at Water Wiz and begins to make friends.

Perfectly cast and acted, The Way Way Back is a special slice-of-life movie.

I loved how Duncan and Owen, the water park manager, developed a friendship. Owen may have been afraid to live his own life or make a change, but he saw truth clearly and wasn’t afraid to defend his friends.

Highly recommended!